Refrigerator display cabinet



Sept. 16, 1952 P. CHOVANEC REFRIGERATOR ,DISPLAY CABINET 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Nov. 8, 1949 INVENTOR.

Pqu/ Chouanec I BY ' Patented Sept. 16, 1952 J 2,610,473- REFRIGERATOR DISPLAY. CABINET Paul Ohovanec, Detroit, Mich. Application November 8, 1949, SerialNd. 12fi,10 0

This inventionrelates to refrigerators and 'more' particularly to refrigerators of the portable type adapted for'domestic or commercial use.

Considerable difficulties have been experienced with refrigerators'of the above type, both in domestic and commercialuses, due to the necessity of opening their doors rather frequently for reachingtheir contents. Inone of the most common commercial uses of'such refrigerators, 0001- ing and keeping'bottled beer or other-bottled drinks for retail sales, such difficulties have been '1 Claims. (01. 62- -89.5)'

out enveloping the clerk, who'may'be wearing a f shirtjwith rolled up sleeves and perspiring. Se- Vere colds have thus been contracted with serious losses ofworking time and dangerto health. In addition, constant onrush of the warm humid air into the refrigerator, causes excessive frosting of the cooling coils and other surfaces thereof, and imposesincreas'ed load on the reirigerator causing nearlyconstant operation of its compressor unit producing more heat and heating the room still further and thus aggravatingthe conditions. In addition the operating" expense of the refrigerator is increased and its'useful life is considerably decreased.

Inydomestic use, a conventional refrigerator often presents a serious threatof sickness to small children, who often get up during the night and go to the kitchen opening the refrigerator in search for some particular piece of food. Under such condition, a small child'just outof a warm bed usually stands right/between thefront of the refrigerator shelves and thedoor which is only slightly opened, with the heavy cold'air flowing out downwardly and enveloping the child, Q

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide animprovedarefrigerator whereby the above difiiculties are decreased and in some instances completely eliminated. I v

Another object of the present inventionis to providefan improved refrigerator by the use of which frequent opening of the doorsiorremov- ,ing its contents by small portions and loading thereof does not result in appreciable losses of cold air,- thereby eliminating the danger of catching cold, as well as imposing excessive load on the refrig-eration apparatus and heating-the room by the compressor. i I

A further object of'the invent-ionisto provide an improved refrigerator having transparent or glazed doors the sweating of which is greatly decreased. j I 1 A still further'object'of the present invention isto provide an'improved refrigerator the contents of the separate shelves whereof can be removed in a simple, convenient manner and without reaching toward the rear of the shelves either f'or removing or reloading such shelves. v

A still further object of the i 'ventioni-s to provide an improved refrigerator havingi'improved means for cooling'the compressor unit thereof and ventilating the unit compartment'in such a manner as to dispose of the heated air without affect ing noticeably the temperature of the room;-

A still further-object'of the invention is to provide'a'refrigerator having a cooling cabinet and a compressor unit compartment disposed above said cabinet and having a cover, all of said parts adapting themselves very-advantageously to form an object imitating the appearance'of a large bottle of any desired shape, providing thereby a striking advertising display. v

A still further object of the present invention is to provide 'a refrigerator having an outer swinging door and a plurality of vertically slidable inner door'se'ctions, which inner door'sections can be selectively installed and removed by the refrigeratoriuser in any easy and simple/manner and without the use of any'tools,

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved refrigerator of'the foregoing character and having cylindrical shape and rotating circular shelves, improved means being provided. for guiding said'shelves in their rotary movements, whereby their interference with the operation ofthe inner doors isprevented without the necessity of providing additionalclea'rance space. i 1

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved refrigerator. havingv means for convenient draining of the cabinet in cases of breakage of bottles or in defrosting.

A still further object of the present invention is to. provide a refrigerator of an improved construction wherebythe operating cost; of the. refrigerator is greatly decreased, and itsuseful life is increased in a considerable measure.

It is an added object of the present invention to provid'e'an improved refrigerator of the foregoing character, which is simple in construction,

dependable in operation, and is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided a refrigerator having a conventional insulating or outer door which may be of the swinging type, if desired. Immediately adjacent said outer door there is provided an inner door formed of a plurality of sections vertically slidable in suitable guides and adapted to be operated to open any desired portion of the refrigerator space, without opening its other portions and permitting the cold air to escape. The inner door sections are movable vertically in channel guides or slides and can be selectively removed therefrom without the use of any tools. The refrigerator is made of a cylindrical shape with a plurality of circular shelves rotating on supporting rollers, auxiliary rollers being provided to hold the shelves away from the sliding door sections. Means are provided to collect and lead away the drainage that may accumulate at the bottom of the cabinet. A cupola-shaped ventilated cover is provided for" the cabinet, said cover being adapted to house the compressor unit and to impart to the refrigerator an appearance of a bottle, making it a very effective advertising display.

Further objects and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the appended drawings, in which: I I

Fig. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator embody-' ing the presentinvention, and shown with all of its doorsclosed H Fig. 2 is a view on an enlarged scale with the top of the refrigerator cover broken way, the outer door and one of the inner door sections of the refrigerator being shown opened.

Fig. 3 is a bottom'viewof the refrigerator.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a-fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4 and illustrating the construction of shelf-guiding means.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4 and illustrating the spring means provided in the inner door slides.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in itsapplication to the details of constructionand arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminolo y. employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

In the drawings there is shown byway of example av refrigerator embodying the present invention, Referring to the drawings; the refrigerator shown therein comprises a cylindrical cabinet I!) with heat insulating walls and having a frontal opening within which is swingingly fitted .in a manner well known in the art an outer door H. The door H is provided with an opening closed with two glass panels I2 and i3, and has any suitable latch or lock means, such as indicated at [4.

Within said frontal opening and immediately adjacent the swinging or outer door ll, there is operatively mounted an inner door composed of a plurality; 'in the present. embodiment two, vertically sliding door sections [5 and 16. Each of said sections and It comprises a curved glass panel H or; [8, mounted in a metal frame I9 or to form a unitary sliding panel, which is slidably fitted in the guiding channels 2| and 22,

secured to side rails 8 and 9, which in turn are secured to the cabinet walls. Each of the guiding channels has two tracks for the reception of the frames I9 and 20. At the top and bottom of the opening closable by the slidable door sections l5 and Hi there are provided soft rubber abutting strips 23 and 24 insuring tight closing of the sliding sections at the top and bottom fedgesof the opening, and cushioning of impacts that would 'endangerthe glass panels in inadvertent hard closing, Insulating soft rubber strips 25 of a curved E-shaped cross section are provided on the side rails 8 and 9.

. channel 22, are made deeper than those in the other channel, and are thus adapted to hold spring-pressed racks 26 shown in Fig. 4 and having two-pronged springs 21 that may be flatted by the side pressure on the sliding panel to allow the opposite side edge of said'panel to be forced out of the guiding channel 2| permitting selective removal of the panel. Suitable handles 28 and 29 are provided on sliding sections l5 and It for convenient operation.

Within the cylindrical refrigerated space there is provided any suitable number of rotatable circular shelves 30 for receiving the products to be cooled such as bottled drinks. Each of said shelves comprises a circular frame 3! of a doubleangle cross section to provide a horizontal flange 3 la and-a vertical flange 3lb,.see Fig. 5. A wire screen disk 32 supported by the flange 3lct provides the load supporting surface while permitting drainage and circulation of air through its orifices.

The under surface of the flange Sla forms a track adapted to run on rollers 33 supporting the shelf for-rotation and operatively mounted on brackets 34 secured to the wall of the cabinet, see Fig. 4. Auxiliary rollers 35 mounted also on the brackets engage the track formed by the outer surface of the vertical flange ale, and operate to hold the shelf away from the slidingdoor sections.

A drainage sheet or pan 3? is provided Within the cabinet at the bottom thereof. The pan 3'! is made sloping toward its center in order to direct the drainage, such as may be due to breakage of bottles or defrosting of. the cabinet, into the conduit or pipe 38 leading outwardly of the cabinet and provided at its end with a faucet 39.

The refrigerator is provided with a suitable refrigerating apparatus including a compressor unit 4| and expansion coils 42. In accordance with the invention, the compressor unit 4| and other connected parts of the apparatus with the exception of the expansion or cooling coils are mounted on the top of the cabinet, while the cooling coils are .operatively arranged within the walls l0 of the cabinet, see Fig. 2, andare adapted to cool the inner surfaces thereof while being suitably insulated from the outer surfaces of said walls..

The top of the cabinet and the apparatus mounted thereon are covered by a housing or cover 43. The cover is of a dome shape and converges upwardly to provide a head 44 shaped into a form of a capped bottle neck. The outer cylindrical surfaces of the cabinet and of the cover appear as forming continuations of each other, and thusthe entire refrigerator appears like a large capped bottle. By virtue of such construction the refrigerator forms an interesting and original advertising display for beer or any other bottled drink. It will be understood that, the cabinet and the cap-therefor: maybe made-g of any desired proportions and-appearance to. imitatea y ype of 'a bottle." 1

f I Inorder to ventilate thei-spacesunderathe: cover ing-more rapid flow; of cooling'air through thehousing-or cover 43. A row of round apertures 4.8 mayralso be provided nearthe junction ofthe cabinet and. cover. Theedges ofthe cover atthe apertures; 41' and iii-may be. beaded as shown. in order to impart to the cover: a,:mor.e interestingappearance. The beads may be either integrally formed on the cover, or made as separate insertable rings. With .the'latteriexpedient any desired. color or finish, such as nickel or chrome.

plating and the like, may be used.

It will now be seen in view of theforeg'oing that by virtue of the construction disclosedabove there is provided an improved refrigerator whichpossesses a number ofimportant advantages; 1

When the refrigerator is, loaded with. bottled drinks and is closed, it, appears like a large bottle and thusJforms a striking advertising display.

The labelsof the bottles can beseen throughthe transparent doors,which add to'the advertising value of. the display. Since; inthe fully closed positionof'both the outer door; I I and the inner slidingsectionsJS and 16, there: are four glass.

panels and three insulatinglayers of airbetween the cold interior of the cabinet and the warm. outside air, sweating and running ofthe glass'panels iszgreatly decreased and transparency of the doors is-increased. Moreover the lessor heat: through the glazed portion ofthe refrigerator is decreased also.

vWhen it becomes necessary to open the refrigerator to reach, say, the upper shelf for removing some bottles therefrom or for loading it, a mere opening of the outerdoor, see Fig. 2, does not result in the escape of the heavy cold air from all of the shelves, so long as the slidable door sections l5 and I6 remain closed. When the upper door section l5 is slid down far enough to permit reaching the upper shelf, loss of the cold air occurs only in the opened portion of the refrigerator space. The same conditions prevail when the lower section I6 is slid up for reaching any of the lower shelves. Under no conditions is more than one half of the total area of the front opening of the refrigerator open at one time. Thus the loss of the cold air is greatly decreased, whereby the necessity of cooling the relatively large mass of warm air entering the refrigerator at each opening of the door is correspondingly decreased. This, in turn, greatly reduces the load on the refrigerating apparatus, effecting saving in operating expenses as well as increasing the useful life of the refrigerator.

It will be understood that while two inner door sections are shown in the drawing, any practical number thereof, such as three or more may also be used. With such a construction, it may be desirable to limit the vertical travel of each section to substantially its height.

Due to the construction of the shelves, they may be revolved as it becomes desirable to reach the back portions thereof. The roller means eliminate the friction which otherwise might be also-permits a rather small clearance between tli'e shelyes and the inner doorsection, rwhich; in

turn, may permitu'seof' straight glass panels for the inne fr'door' sections. I a Any liquid that would'otherwise tend to: collect at the bottom of the refrigerator and; require frequent lwipi'ng', is very simply andceasily: dis;- posed Ofjil'l. my improved refrigerator due. to the provision of draining meansdisclosed 1 above;- Undergsomeconditions it: may be-desi-rableito utilize. a, refrigeration unit other: than that mounted. on the top, of the. refrigeration/cabinet. In, anticipation of such a. contingency, thereis provided? at the. bottom of: the: refrigerator a stamped;' housing 5.0 in which suitable electric wiringand the cooling'coiloutlets'are provided for. connecting the refrigerator :to. a separate; re frigeration unit" or aportion of such asunit.

.There is: thusiprovided an improved: refrig+ erator' whereby-objects: of. the; invention. listed above and, numerous: additional advantageszare attained; r Iclaim: i g l. A refrigerator cabinet comprising cylindri calwalls forming a heateinsulated ,verticallya'ex tending" compartment; 2.- dooropening 'inysaid walls extending over substantially" thexentire height of saidcompartment, a swingingi outer door 'closing said; opening and hinged. on the structure of said walls, vertically; rarranged guides mounted on the structure of'saidiheate insulating walls immediately .behind saidiwinging door and having: a plurality of; parallel tracks. and a corresponding plurality-tof l-rigid inner 'doorsections forming, a portionxof aicylin der and arranged within said guides-.to slide vertically in said tracks from aqpositiom'wherein they completely close said opening intooverlapping positions to open portionsof said-opening.

2. A refrigerator cabinet comprising cylindrical walls forming a heat-insulated vertically extending. compartment, a door opening in said walls extending over substantially the entire height .of said compartment, a swinging outer door closing said opening and hinged on the structure of said walls, vertically arranged guides mounted on the structure of said heatinsulating walls immediately behind said swinging door and having a plurality of parallel tracks. and a corresponding plurality of transparent rigid inner door sections forming a portion of. a cylinder and arranged within said guides to slide vertically in said tracks from a position wherein they completely close said opening. into overlapping positions to open portions of said opening.

3. A refrigerator cabinet comprising cylindrical walls forming a heat-insulated vertically extending compartment, a door opening in said walls extending over substantially the entire height of said compartment, a swinging outer door closing said opening and hinged on the structure of said walls, vertically arranged guides mounted on the structure of said heatinsulating walls immediately behind said swinging door and having a plurality of parallel tracks. a corresponding plurality oftransparent rigid inner door sections arranged within said guides to slide vertically in said tracks from a. position wherein theycompletely, close said opening, into overlapping positions to open portions of said opening, said swinging door being provided with an opening substantially coextensive' with. the transparent vertically sliding door. sections, and two transparent panels fitted into the last opening to close the same and to have a'dead air space between them, andthus providing a transparent Wall in the cabinet with two air spaces between the atmosphere and the heat insulated compartment.

v4. .A refrigerator cabinet comprising cylindrical walls forming a heat-insulated compartment, the height of the cylinder formed by said walls being approximately twice the diameter thereof, a door opening in said walls extending over substantially the entire height of said compartment, aswinging outer door closing said opening, two transparent rigid door sections having partcylindrical surfaces and arranged immediately behind said swinging door and slidable vertically in two separate but-parallel planes from a position wherein they completely close said opening into overlapping positions to'open portions of said opening,.said swinging door being provided with an opening substantially coextensive with the transparent vertically sliding door sections, and two transparent panels fitted into the last opening to close the same and to have a dead air space between them, and thus providing a transparent wallin the cabinet with 'two air spaces between the atmosphere andthe heatinsulated compartment. v ;The'construction defined in the preceding claim 4 andincluding a'jpluralit y of circular rotatable shelves the contents of which is observable from'the outside. 6L The'construction defined in claim 4 and including a-plurality of foraminous circular and rotatable'shelves the contents of which is observable froin' the' outside, a drainage pan under the lower most of saidshelves, and a drain'pipe connected tothe" lowest "point of said pan and leading to the outside of said cabine't.

'7. A refrigerator cabinet'comprising cylindrical walls forming a heat-insulated compartment, the height of the cylinder vformed by said walls being approximately twice the diameterthereof, a door opening in said walls extending over substantially the entire height of said compartment, a transparent swinging door closing said opening, a compressor unitv mounted on the top of said cabinet, a convex dome-shaped. cover :for saidiunit having its lower edge merging with the outer surface of said cylindrical cabinet and its upper edges near the center thereof extending upwardly to form an extension adapted to receive a section resembling a bottle neck, a plurality of openings near said lower edge to admit cooling air, .and a plurality of openings near said'extension'to exhaust the heated air, said exhaust openings being provided in the nearly horizontally extending portion of said cover; i 3 PAUL CHOVANEC.

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